1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to reducing the incidence of collisions involving a vehicle, and in particular, to methods and systems for providing a vehicle operator with information relating to potential collisions.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various vehicular collision avoidance systems have been developed in an effort to reduce accidents and better manage traffic flow. With some conventional systems, cars or trucks are equipped with radar, laser, or other detection systems, that are used to determine the location of the objects. The object location information is provided to the driver, often by depicting the information on a CRT or LCD display using direction vectors or the like. The driver is then theoretically able to use the object location information to determine the positions and relative motions of the objects and to avoid collisions with other vehicles.
Disadvantageously, the amount of object location-related information can be overwhelming to a driver. Thus, rather than helping the driver avoid a collision, often the driver either ignores the information, or is so distracted by the information that the driver becomes more collision-prone. Further, conventional collision detection displays are often expensive, complex, and can be unreliable in very hot or cold environments.